CyberGhost 6 VPN Review, Giveaway and Coupon Code. As always the user experience begins with the time it takes to download the software installer. My download was very fast and resulted in a 8.21 MB file named CGWebInstall.exe.

Your installation experience may differ slightly from mine as the software requires .net 3.5 (SP1) which will auto download and install if needed. This package from Microsoft is fairly large and can take a while to install if you do not already have it. The system I used for my testing was a Windows 7 32 bit Virtual Machine and came with .net already so this step was not necessary for me.

If you don’t need to install .net the setup process will be short and standard with one notable exception. During the install the software needs to add a virtual network adapter and windows will require your permission to continue. The dialog should look something like the picture below and is signed by “OpenVPN Technologies, Inc”

Without the installation of the driver, the software would not be able to preform it’s primary function of routing your internet traffic through the CyberGhost servers so be sure to press install. Aside from either the .net install, if needed, and the one dialog presented by windows for the virtual network adapter the install is quick and painless.

When the program launches you are greeted by a window primarily composed of a small section of a world map relative to your physical location/ISP. The top right hand side contains most of the options available including upgrading/registering, activating a registration key, and logging in. To open a form with many of the settings you can click on the Gear icon.

Before you dabble in the options, I’d recommend you give the program a quick whirl to make sure it works properly with the default settings. I say this primarily because during my initial testing I received a rather vague ‘connection error’ that ended up being unrelated to the program itself and was instead an issue with some hidden network devices that were installed along with the virtual machine drivers. Once these were fixed my issue cleared up immediately after a reboot.

The next step was to actually connect through the VPN. By default the program is set to automatically choose a country and IP but selecting the arrow under ‘Simulated Country’ will allow you to manually choose one. The same goes for the IP address on the right side of the screen. This brings up a new window with a list and thoughtfully includes a search box.

When you are ready to connect, you click the large ‘Power’ icon in the center of the bottom of the screen and it begins to do the work.

Free users will face a small delay and an alert window with a timer that counts down until you are ready to continue.

Much like the trial restrictions found at the start of some software, this waiting time is used to inform you of the perks of using the paid version. As the box indicates, free users are slightly limited by accessible servers locations and will also be disconnected occasionally. It’s important to note though that this disconnection only occurs once every couple of hours. Once you have connected, the map on the main screen will shift to show your new IP Address and it’s geo-location.

A quick check and I verified that this was indeed my new IP as seen by the visited site.

Once you have tested the default settings, it may be time for you to peek into and change some of the settings. Opening this through the Gear icon brings up a new box with several tabs.

The first tab, general, contains the options for language and startup. If you want the service to start after you boot and automatically connect, simply check the boxes!

The next tab shows some slightly more advanced options related to privacy broken down into two sections ‘Anti-Fingerprinting’ and ‘Content Blocker.’

You may have noticed a little blue option to the right “Show advanced settings…” Clicking this will open a few more tabs that can be used to tweak things the standard user may never need to think about.

You can check the online help with detailed information for each setting and decide what is best for you.

Notice the “Force using CyberGhost DNS-Servers.” For those of you more familiar with VPNs, this is an automated route delete/add routine to protect against DNS leakage that I highly recommend using but may not be suitable for beginners.

Aside from learning more details about the settings (if needed) and applying them for your particular setup, that’s pretty much the entire interface.

Summary and other thoughts:

The free version doesn’t require the user to register, it’s a simple install and use scenario that made the experience more pleasant than I had expected. If you don’t mind the delay and the ads you may even be able to get away with using the free version for most internet browsing. If you’re using CyberGhost for streaming of blocked content, especially videos, I can easily see how the paid version would be the way to go.

CyberGhost is not just a piece of software, it’s a service that routes your internet through encrypted connections. As such I found it difficult to establish any real baseline in bandwidth and speed for it. Factors including your location, the location of the server you choose, the location of the site you want to visit, the time of day (Usage/load of the servers) all vary greatly. While I didn’t encounter any major lag in my testing, if one server is unbearably slow, try switching until you find one that is acceptable. We also have to keep in mind that premium users have access to exclusive servers and the loads there are much lighter than the ones available to the free users.

If you already have a VPN client such as L2PT, OpenVPN or PPTP and don’t need the extra privacy options provided by the CyberGhost software, you can download the configuration files for the account and use the service that way.

A random plus I saw is that if you visit the website you can make use of a free Proxy without signing in or installing anything!

I found the interface pleasant and while I consider the world map view and geo-location as eye-candy I must admit that I still liked it a lot! The layout of the program is a little different than most of the software you will deal with but I believe that the large buttons and limited options on the main screen work for- not against this particular program. The settings and advanced settings are easily accessible but initially ‘out of sight.’ This works well for the beginner as they are not overwhelmed yet allows the power user to easily tweak with just a couple of extra clicks.

I was also glad to see that a forum exists on the website where users can go to ask questions if needed.

I’m not normally a fan of .net programs. Thankfully during the hours I spent in my tests of CyberGhost 5 it did not have a single crash or freeze like some of the software that helped create my general distaste of .net.

If you’re looking for a VPN service, CyberGhost may be exactly what you need. It’s simple, effective and best of all- comes in a free version. Take it out for a test drive around the world and find out for yourself!